


A Lifetime Before Now

by afteriwake



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-15
Updated: 2012-10-15
Packaged: 2017-11-16 08:38:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/537564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eight hundred years was a long time, but she had waited.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Never-Ending Life](https://archiveofourown.org/works/537561) by [afteriwake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake). 



> Everyone liked the first one so much and asked for a sequel, so here it is.

When Lieutenant Kotetsu had delivered the letter to her those many years ago, her first thought was that while she recognized the flow of words, the style of the sentences, it was not in his handwriting, and it saddened her. She had cried the entire time she read it, taking in the weight of what he had done, all for her. It was a heavy burden, but not nearly as heavy as it must have been for him. She had always wondered if Lieutenant Kotetsu had had any idea what she had written down, of what it all _truly_ meant.

When he was released into the world of the living, her Captain took pity on her and allowed her one day a month to go to the communications center and watch where he was. She watched him move from Karakura Town to Nagasaki to Osaka to Tokyo, watched him age so very, very slowly. She burned the image of his gigai into her mind, and after time it blurred with her memories of him. Instead of closed eyes and white hair he had wild black hair and brilliant green eyes.

And then he disappeared. There was no trace of him, and though everyone had speculated different reasons for it no one knew the truth, not even her. Her day at the communication center dwindled down from twelve hours to six to four to two to a half hour to a few minutes as time went on. The longer she stayed the more miserable she would feel afterwards, for there was still no sign of him. After a hundred years of him being gone, she simply stopped going. It was easier that way.

She didn't move on, though. This didn't stop her from having relationships, or at the very least physical companionship. For a while Hisagi was satisfied with that, but when he wanted more she withdrew from him. There was a barrier around her heart, and no matter the intent no one and nothing could break it down. She moved on to other lovers, and while they had her body, and she may have cared for them, none of them ever had her heart.

In fact, it cost her dearly. As those around her were in fulfilling relationships, getting married and having children, she was alone. She had always taken careful measures not to get pregnant, and as she watched her friends have the life she had once wanted when her partying ways were over the loneliness hurt even more. Of all people it was Hisagi who had the solution. She may have pushed him away from a physical relationship but he never intended to forgo a friendship with her, and when he broached his idea for the first time in three hundred years she felt hope.

He knew of a woman with a young son, no more than three years old, who needed food the woman could not provide. She wanted the child to be well taken care of and had asked Hisagi for help, but he and his wife did not want children at that point, so he had told Matsumoto that maybe she should adopt the little boy. When she saw his white hair and green eyes, she knew this child was meant for her to take care of. His name was Kazuki, which meant “harmonious hope,” and after promising the woman that he would be raised with love she took him home with her and she cared for him.

For the first time in such a long time she felt something chip away at her heart, break down that wall she had barricaded around it. The child had a laugh that reminded her of Gin so much. And his mannerisms...he had the same smile Gin had had as a child, and while his eyes were always wide and open and taking everything in he still had the head tilt, the style of speaking. If she thought hard enough, she could imagine this boy might be his.

But she raised him alone, not letting any other man into her life. Her Captain, bless him, became a mentor to her son, training him in the things he would need to know when he was old enough to enter the academy. Kazuki regarded Hitsugaya as the brother he'd never had, and Matsumoto noticed that the role fit him well, kept his mind off the dark places it had gone off to for so long thanks to the aftermath of the Winter War. Between her son and her Captain she had the chance to watch two young men blossom, and it filled her with pride.

She never forgot Gin, not completely, not as long as Kazuki was there, but the ache in her heart of his absence eased. When the ache got strong, she would simply go to her chest where she held all her treasured items, pull out the letter and the few things of his she had kept over the years, and remember the good times, the times before they joined the Gotei 13. But she noticed as more time went by, the memories faded and blurred until she could no longer remember them clearly.

Eight hundred years had passed from the day he left when a solemn Hitsugaya entered their office and asked her to sit on the couch. Her Captain had long ago become a man, and he now had a family of his own, he and Hinamori. But in this instance, she was reminded of the younger Captain, the one who was short-tempered and grumpy but still much beloved by her.

“He's come back,” he said quietly. “He's in Karakura Town.”

“Gin?” she asked, her eyes widening and her hand flying to her mouth.

He nodded. “His gigai only has days left, according to Captain Kurotsuchi. She said two, maybe three. Her father had designed it to last around eight hundred years, so that when he died he would appear one-hundred. Anything else would have been suspicious. They wanted to send someone from another division to collect him but I insisted it be you.” He looked gravely at her. “You've waited for eight hundred years. It's time for you to see him again.”

She stood quickly and bowed deeply. Long ago had she started practicing modesty, around the time she became a mother. One of the benefits was that she could bow without her breasts threatening to spill. When she stood up she tucked the hair that had escaped from her bun back behind her ear. “What will I say, Captain? Will he even be able to see me?”

Hitsugaya looked at her intently. “I believe you will know what to say when you see him. You will leave tonight and arrive tomorrow morning. Kazuki is already in Karakura Town, patrolling. It might do for you to introduce him to the man you have loved for such a long time.”

She bowed again, though not as deeply this time. “Thank you, Captain.”

“Matsumoto?” he said quietly. “He will not be allowed back in Seirieiti. He will not be allowed to be a shinigami again.” 

“I had thought so,” she said sadly.

“Momo and I were talking, and we would...well...,” he said, looking down. “I have not completely forgiven him for his role in the Winter War, but based on the reports from his last few days in Karakura Town, he seems to have changed. For the time being, he may stay at our childhood home until other arrangements can be made.”

“Thank you, Toshiro,” she said, bowing again. Very rarely did she call him by his first name, but it seemed appropriate just then. “I am very grateful.”

He waved his hand slightly, but that was because she knew he was embarrassed. She stood up again and left the office. She was shaking slightly, and she put her back to the wall and took some deep breaths. She was going to see him again. He was going to see her. He was going to come back. And...she didn't know what to say. She wasn't sure she'd know what to say, not even when she was looking at him. She just hoped she could find the words to express everything that had happened over the last eight hundred years.


	2. Chapter 2

“Mother!” Kazuki said with a grin, giving Matsumoto a hug. “Captain Kurosaki sent our third seat to patrol for the next few nights, because he said you would be here. What's the occasion?”

She returned his hug, but didn't let him go completely, getting a good look at him. He was a fine young man, and a prodigy like her Captain. He'd quickly risen to the rank of Lieutenant in the 13th Division, when he'd graduated from the academy. Captain Ukitake had died from his illness and Ichigo Kurosaki had taken over many years before after living until he was forty in the living world. Everyone had expected him to pick Rukia Kuchiki as his lieutenant, given their history, but Rukia had recently taken the position of Lieutenant of the 9th Division when Hisagi had been made captain. He had continued with the two third seats until two hundred years ago, when Kazuki proved himself to be excellent Lieutenant material. She was so proud of him, she really was.

“Do you remember the stories about Gin Ichimaru that I told you?” she asked, leading him to a bench that was bathed in moonlight. Neither were in shinigami attire since both were in gigais.

“Yes, of course,” he said.

“He's here, in Karakura Town. I am to take him back to Soul Society tomorrow evening.”

Kazuki's eyes widened slightly. “I thought he had disappeared seven hundred years ago.”

“He did.” She looked at him. “I would like you to meet him. I want him to meet you, the other love of my life.”

He grinned at her. “Sure, okay.”

“Good,” she said with a warm smile. “Tonight...I want to talk to him alone. He's in a hospital bed at Karakura Town Hospital, so if you would accompany me and wait outside the door I will let you in when I'm done.”

He nodded at her. “That's cool.” Then his grin dropped a little. “How old does he look?”

“A hundred. I saw him in the communications center before I came. They made my gigai look like me so he would recognize me.”

“That's good,” he said. “So...we go now?”

“Yes, Kazuki. We're going to go now.” They stood up and walked the short distance to the hospital. Urahara had changed his gigai many times in the last hundreds of years, but he was still around, and had helped set things up so they would be allowed access in as Hiro Watanuke's daughter and grandson. She'd have to ask Gin why he chose that name, but that could come later. When they got outside the door of his private room she paused, her hand shaking. Kazuki put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently, and she put her hand on top of it for a moment before reaching back for the door.

She opened it, the smells and sounds she normally associated with the 4th Division healing center assaulting her senses. The man in the bed, old and shriveled, with gray hair now, turned and looked at the door. “Who's there?” he asked, his voice soft and slightly raspy.

“Rangiku Matsumoto,” she said softly, coming closer to the bed, one slow and slightly unsteady step at a time.

“Rangiku?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “This is not a joke, is it?”

“No, Gin,” she said as she got to the bed. “Can't you see me?”

“I lost my sight about ten years ago,” he said. “The last thing I got to see was a glorious sunrise through a hospital window.”

“I'm so sorry,” she said, pulling the chair up and sitting down.

“I know you know my real name, but how do I know it's you?”

“When I was a child and you found me dying, you gave me dried persimmons. You had an armful of them and you bent over me with that smile on your face and your eyes closed. Later, you gave me my birthday.” A tear leaked down her cheek. “You apologized to me when you left with Aizen, when I had my zanpakatou to your throat. And you dictated a letter to Lieutenant Kotetsu as you were recovering. You told me everything in it.”

“Rangiku,” he said, a soft smile on his face. “I'm to die soon, aren't I?”

“Yes,” he said. “I'm here to escort you back to Soul Society. I...and my son.”

The smile dimmed a bit. “You have a son?” he asked.

“I adopted him five hundred years ago,” she said, reaching for his hand. He squeezed it tightly, and she squeezed back just as hard. “He has the white hair I remember from you and green eyes, the same shade as your gigai's. He's a wonderful young man who I love very much.”

He relaxed his grip on her hand, and his body relaxed as well, as if some unseen tension flowed out of him. “And he's here?”

“He's waiting outside.”

“I would like to meet him.”

“You will,” she said. “I just wanted to talk to you alone, first. Where did you go seven hundred years ago? Why did you disappear?”

“I traveled the world,” he said, starting to sit up a bit. He leaned forward and she adjusted the pillows so he could sit up better. “First I went to North America, and spent two hundred years traveling there, then I spent fifty years in Latin America, another hundred in South America, went to Europe and Asia for two hundred and fifty years, and Australia for a hundred years after that. I could feel my body failing, so I decided to come back here, in the hopes I would get to come home again when the gigai finally broke down completely.”

“So you left Japan and then we couldn't follow you anymore,” she said. “What was it like?”

“I met many interesting people, did many interesting things.” He paused. “There was never anyone important in my life, though. If...if I couldn't be with you then I didn't want to be with anyone else,” he added quietly.

“I had relationships with other men, physical ones, but I never gave anyone my heart,” she whispered. “It has always belonged to you.”

“I'm glad to hear that,” he said, a smile on his lips. “I am going back to Soul Society, and then I will be able to see you again.”

“You are not allowed in Seirieiti, but there have been arrangements made for you to have a place to stay,” she said.

“As long as you promise to visit me, it doesn't matter where I live,” he said. “I have missed you greatly.”

She stood up and kissed his wrinkled forehead softly. “I've missed you too, Gin. So much.”

He reached up and rough fingertips caressed her cheek. He had worked hard, whatever it was that he had done. She liked the feel of them on her skin, these hands that had toiled in hard labor. “What has happened with Aizen?”

“He is still imprisoned, still insolent to the end,” she said, sitting down. “They just keep adding more years to his sentence when he gets particularly mouthy. Good riddance to him.”

“Yes,” he said with a slight nod. “What else has happened?”

“Well, Ichigo Kurosaki came to Soul Society about twenty or so years after the end of the Winter War. Captain Ukitake died not that long afterward so he was offered the position of Captain. My son is his lieutenant now, and has been for quite some time. He's a prodigy, much like my Captain.”

“And how is he?” he asked.

“Less grumpy, now that he has three daughters running around and wrapping him around their fingers, along with Momo Hinamori” she said with a smile. “Hisagi-san took up the Captain rank for his division and Rukia Kuchiki is his Lieutenant. Captain Unohana is in charge now, since Captain Yamamoto died about one hundred years ago in a battle he had decided to fight alone. Captain Kyoraku and Lieutenant Ise have been married for about six hundred years now.” She chuckled. “They are different people now, much happier. And let's see.” She was quiet for a moment. “I showed Kira your letter to me. He let go of his feelings over the matter and has become Captain of your squad. You would be proud of him, I think. He and Lieutenant Kotetsu have been happily married for four hundred years and have two sons.”

“Things really have changed,” he said with a slow nod.

“Yes,” she replied. “The biggest change is Captain Kusajishi. She's a stunningly gorgeous woman now, and is actually more bloodthirsty then Captain Kenpachi ever was. And she's more powerful, too.” She chuckled slightly. “He had died, oh, about two hundred years ago. In his sleep, of all things. No one had expected that. She wears his eye patch upon Captain Commander Unohana's request, to keep her spiritual powers repressed. But it is so much fun to watch her beat new recruits to a pulp.” And then she smiled slightly. “I may soon have her as a daughter-in-law, if Kazuki and she have anything to say about it. They're very much in love with each other, even if he is younger than her. I believe he brings out the best in her, at any rate.”

He shut his eyes and sighed. “I need to rest. This gigai...it's so old. I get tired easily.”

“Tomorrow it will be over,” she said, getting up and kissing his forehead. “Kazuki can meet you then. Rest now, okay?” She lifted her head up and saw he was already asleep, and so she went out to her son and together they left for his home and began the wait for the reunion she'd been waiting for for eight hundred years.


	3. Chapter 3

The next time they went to his hospital room, they were not in gigais. Matsumoto was nervous, but having her son there was a steadying influence. They walked into the hospital unseen and quickly made their way up to where he was. She opened the door and found him sitting up in bed. “Hello Gin,” she said, half afraid he wouldn't be able to hear her.

“Rangiku,” he said, a smile on his face. It didn't look like his old sly fox grin, but if it had it might have pulled at her heart more. It was peaceful, and a bit excited, as though he'd been looking forward to it all day. He probably had. She knew she had.

“Your gigai will expire in a few moments,” she said, moving over to the bed.

“I know. It feels...different.” He opened his eyes. “Do you have any idea what I'll look like? Will I be an old man, like I am now?”

“I don't know,” she said.

“Hold my hand while we wait,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. She gripped his hand and held it tightly as one minute ticked by, then two, then three. When she saw the time, she popped the pill in his mouth, waiting for his gigai to expel him before it expired. Gin pushed himself up and blinked, his eyes wide and back to their normal color. His hair was long now, very long, and he looked roughly the same age that Matsumoto did.

She helped him off the bed as the alarms beeped on the monitor his gigai was hooked up to. Gin looked at Kazuki but Matsumoto shook her head. “We can make introductions outside. Let's go.” Quickly the three of them headed outside the hospital and Kazuki led them to the bench he had met his mother at the evening before. “Gin, this is Kazuki,” she said, indicating her son. “Kazuki, this is Gin.”

Kazuki held his hand out. “It's nice to meet you...” he said, pausing for a moment.

“You may call me Gin,” he replied, shaking the young man's hand, his voice sounding much firmer and louder than it had in his gigai. “If it is all right that I call you Kazuki.”

“Okay,” he said with a nod and a small smile. “Mother has told me a lot about you, from when you were children until you left.”

“Not everything, but the important things,” she said with a smile of her own. She reached over and brushed Gin's hair away from his face gently. “I missed you,” she said quietly.

He reached up and caught her hand before she lowered it completely, holding it tightly. “I am sorry. I am so sorry, Rangiku,” he said quietly. “I didn't mean to hurt you like that.”

“Shh,” she said, taking her other hand and placing a finger on his lips. “I have forgiven you, and it's done. You don't need to apologize.” She removed her finger and he let go of her hand and she embraced him, getting an embrace back almost immediately. She had worn her hair down today and she could feel him tangling his fingers in her hair. They stood like that for quite a few moments before he let go and pulled back slightly. “What is it?” she asked, taking in the puzzled look on his face.

“You smell different than I remember,” he said.

She smiled and laughed, a warm hearty laugh that brought a smile to his face. “You honestly expected me to smell the same after eight hundred years? I change my shampoo and soaps every few months.”

“You used to wear this perfume that smelled like honeysuckle,” he said.

“It's no longer made,” she said, touching his face gently. “But I can try and find something that smells like it again. I miss that scent.”

“Do we need to go back now?” he asked, pulling away completely.

“Not yet,” she asked, slightly confused. “Why?”

“I was just wondering. I had a request, that's all.”

“What?” she asked.

“I would like to watch a sunrise with you,” he replied, reaching over for her hand again.

“You know, I can go patrol or something,” Kazuki said with a grin. “If you two want to go to my home and watch from the roof or something.”

“You live here?” Gin asked.

“Yes. When Isshin Kurosaki died he left his home to Kisuke-san, who had it torn down about two hundred years ago for an apartment complex. He's arranged for whichever shinigami is patrolling the city to live there, usually on the top floor to get the roof access better. The rent is exorbitant, but he cuts 13th Division members a discount because Captain Kurosaki insists. Yachiru went back to Soul Society two days ago and I told her not to stop by while my mother was here, so it should be empty.”

Matsumoto raised an eyebrow. “I thought she was staying elsewhere.”

He grew red. “She just spends some time with me there, that's all.”

Matsumoto looked at her son and chuckled. “You're grown. As long as you do the right thing if anything happens, it's not really my business what you two do when she visits you here. She is _your_ girlfriend, not mine.”

“Soon to be fiancee, hopefully,” he said with a grin, chuckling himself when he saw the surprised look on her face. “I bought a ring last time I was in Soul Society. I was going to wait until I went back to propose. Another month and I will.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “As soon as I get back I'll send her back here.” She glanced at Gin, and then at their joined hands, and then back at her son. “Don't wait. Promise me you won't wait.”

“I won't wait,” he replied with a nod. “I'll go help out if there's any Hollows around.” And with that he leaped into the sky and flash stepped away.

Matsumoto watched him leave, then turned to Gin. “So. First time in ten years you've gotten to see, eh?” she asked.

“Having you be the first person I saw was a great gift,” he said with a smile.

She squeezed his hand, then stepped towards him gain, letting go of his hand and touching his face. “And what did you think?” she asked.

He took her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist. “It was a more beautiful sight than anything I had seen in the seven hundred and ninety years before.”

“Gin,” she said quietly, shutting her eyes.

He reached over to touch her face, and she leaned into it. “Even if I cannot go back to Seirieiti, I'll still be in Soul Society. I will not let you go again.” She opened her eyes and saw that his were open as well. “I promise.”

She looked at him, and a small smile quirked on her face. “Now would be a very good time to kiss me,” she murmured.

He grinned and leaned in, letting his lips touch hers. It was soft and gentle at first, but then almost an entire lifetime of holding back overtook them and the kiss deepened and they didn't pull apart until they needed to. “I have wanted to do that for a long time, longer than you know.”

“I wanted you to do that when we were children,” she said quietly, resting her forehead against his. “If you had, perhaps things might have gone differently.”

“Perhaps. But it doesn't do to dwell on it.” He pulled away at her and smiled once she looked at him. “Do you by any chance have something for my hair? I hadn't expected it to be quite so long.”

“Yes,” she said. She reached for the ribbon she'd tied onto the hilt of her zanpakatou and motioned for Gin to turn around. He did, and she gathered his hair together in a ponytail and tied it off. “I kind of like the long hair,” she said when he turned around again.

“It will take some getting used to,” he said, reaching over to take her hand. “We have an entire evening before us. Let us go enjoy ourselves.”

She stepped close, so their shoulders were touching, and he let go of her hand and put an arm around her shoulders as she looped one around her waist. “Yes, lets.” And with that, they walked through the moon bathed park towards the future that awaited them together.


End file.
